Brassiere



L @www May 9, 1961 H. M. PLEH N BRASSIERE Filed Dec. 9, 1959 OOOINVENTOR HENRY M. PLE/1W BY f' United :States Patent Oce Patented May 9,1961 BRASSIERE Henry M. Plehn, 730 Park Ave., New York, N.Y.

Filed Dec. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 858,542

4 Claims. (Cl. 12S- 489) This invention relates to ladies undergarmentsand more particularly to a bust molding garment, commonly known as abrassiere.

Brassieres have been universally adapted to support and mold the femalebust and thus Yenhance the female ligure. In spite of the multifarioussizes and shapes of the female bust, various structures have beendesigned which adequately serve to support and mold the average bust ofthe wearer of a brassiere. It has been the practice, however, in theundergarment industry, to give prime consideration to an average sizeand `shape of a female bust in deference to the problem of massproduction of the garment; Itv is, however, a known fact that suchaverage sizes and shapes are quite arbitrary, leaving a great majorityofewearers of brassieres ill tted because of the establishment of sucharbitrary size and shape constructions.y It is further an establishedfact that even Where a brassiere is adequately fitted within the averagestandards set by the industry, the female bust is subject to constantphysiologicalY change and is therefore impossible of vbeing subjecttomathematically precise meas- Which may be considered perfectly tted toa female figure at the moment of fitting, will be ill fitted as thenormal physiological change of the `busts results in changes in size andshape thereof.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide abrassiere which is responsive to the physiological changes in a femalebust which alters its size and shape. At the same time, a brassiere,constructed in accordance with my invention, will take care of anyslight variations in size or shape of the cups required to fit anywearer of a bust size even approximating, but not precisely the exactsize and shape required for any particular bust.

Another object of this invention is to provide a brassiere which willcontinue to be of perfect t and comfortable to a wearer in spite of suchphysiological change in the shape and/ or size of a female bust.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of abrassiere which will oder adequate support to the female bust withoutundue compression of the busts in spite of constant physiological changethereof.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide abrassiere which will furnish individual requirements of tit regardlessof the individual variations of size and shape of the female bust, andwhich will give adequate support, confining effect, and proper shapingirrespective of size, shape, or other characteristic of the bust.

In accomplishing the foregoing, there is provided a brassiere having `anovel bust cup construction which, although furnishing adequaterestrictive control and support to the breasts, provides a .garmentwhich is nevertheless sufficiently yieldable to be comfortable inordinary usage, will provide a suitable size of bust cup for thein-between-size wearer, and is also responsive to the physiologicalchanger in size and shape ot the female bust. The cups of the brassiereof the present invention are constructed of a fabric with controlledexpandability. By the provision of a two directional highly stretchablefabric incorporated With a substantially non-stretchable material, theresulting substantially one-way stretchable fabric of limitedyieldability is utilized in the bust cups to yield a radial stretch, sothat the bust cups of the present invention will furnish positivesupport to the female bust while being entirely responsive to even theslightest physiological change in the size and shape of the female bust.

The above and further objects and advantages of the present inventionwill be apparent to those versed in the art, from the followingdescription of a specific embodiment of the invention as illustrated inthe drawing, wherein like characters designate like parts in the severalviews, and in which:

Fig. l is a front view of a brassiere constructed in accordance with thepresent invention;l

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and y Fig.3 is a view of the fabric utilized in the construction of the bust cupsof the brassiere according to the present invention and shown in anextended position.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a brassiere 10 having bustcups 11 and 12, each having a top edge 13 forming the top edge of thegarment to which are attached shoulder straps 26, 27, and lower arcuateedges 14 and 15. Contiguous to the lower edges 14 and 15 and disposedbeneath the respective bust cups 11 and 12 and secured thereto is ahorizontal stretchable fabric 16 and 17. Central non-stretchable'portion 18 is disposed between and separate bust cups 11 and 12. Suchcentral non-stretchable portion 18 has edges 19 and 20 urements andfitting. It isethus obvious that a brassiere 'l secured partlyto bustcups 11 'and 12 andisecured partly to'stretchable fabric 16 and 17.Incorporated in the lower part of non-stretchable portion there isprovided a padded portion 21 to give additional comfort to the wearer.

Adjacent the outer side edge of each bust cup 11 and 12 are bodyencircling bands 22 and 23 which consist of non-stretchable fabric. Suchbody encircling bands 22 and 23, respectively, have edges 24 and 25secured partly to bust cups 11 and 12, and in part secured to thehorizontally stretchable portions 16 and 17, respectively.

Bust cups 11 and 12, as shown in the illustrated embodiment, areconstructed of a fabric 30 comprising alternate strips of a highlyextensible two-way stretch mesh material 31 of a net-like construction,incorporated by stitching 32 with strips of a non-stretchable material33, the resulting fabric 30 having a one-Way stretch characteristic.

Although a non-stretchable material 33 is shown, such material 33 may beone which is of lesser stretchability than the highly stretchable netmaterial 31. The use of a material 33 of lesser stretchability than thenet material 31 willthus yield a fabric 30 having a stretchcharacteristic which is greater in one direction than another.

'The non-stretchable material 33 may be of a single ply seamed bystitching to extensible net material 31, or may consist of a double ply33, 33 as illustrated in Fig. 2, in which case the longitudinal edges ofmaterial 31 are interposed within the longitudinal edges of the doubleply of material 33, 33' and joined thereto by stitching 32. f

The width of each of the strips of net material 31 and non-stretchablematerial 33 may be altered or may be similar depending upon therequirements of yieldability of the linal garment. Thus, for example,broader strips of non-stretchable fabric may be used.

Since both bust cups are substantially identical, referi, 2,983,274 i nence will be made to one such cup using bust cup 11 as illustrativethereof. Bust cup 11 is provided with four sections or quadrants 3S, 36,37, 38 each of such sections being substantially triangular in form, theradius of each quadrant being parallel Vwith the direction of theYstretchj of the fabric 30. lSuch sectionsare joined byvfagoting,

the bust cup A11, it is also intendedrthat such strips 31,'

33 may assume an arcuate shape. The bust cups 1-1 may also beconstructed in two sections rather` than being constructed of quadrantsections. The bust cupsl of the present invention may furtherbe made toconform to the shape of the bust by the utilization of a unitary blankof fabric 30 thereby eliminating the need of sec:-Y

tions in the construction of said cups 11 and 12.

It is evident that the foregoing construction of theV present inventionis entirely responsive toradial stress of the normal female bust and isyieldably responsive to enlargement or other physiological change orother size adjustment of the bust so'that adjustment to a particularsize and shape will be automatic.

It is to be understood that although the present invention has beendescribed and shown in the drawing, with reference to one embodiment, itis to be noted that various embodiments and adaptations may be madeWithout constituting a departure from the spirit and scope of theinvention as herein described and defined. For instance, While afour-section cup brassiere has been illustrated and described, theinvention is equally applicable to a brassiere constituted ofconventional bust sections shaped to breast conformation, as heretoforevdescribed. Y Y

I claim:

1. A brassiere having a body encircling portion and bust cups attachedthereto; means separating said bust cups; eachof said Abust cupscomprising a fabric having a plurality of strips of elasticV materialand a plurality of strips of substantially non-elastic material, saidstrips of elastic material being alternately disposed with respect tosaid strips of substantially non-elastic material along the longitudinaledges thereof and joined along said edges.

2. A brassiere having a body encircling portion and bust cups attachedthereto; means separating said bust cups; each of said bust cupscomprising at least four alternating strips of stretchable fabric andnon-stretchable fabric attached along the longitudinal edges thereof toeach other.

3. A brassiere having a body encircling portion and bust cups attached'thereto, means separating said bust cups, each of said bust cupscomprising a fabric having two layers of semi-elastic strips ofmaterial, the longitudinal edges thereof being turned inwardly,andtwoway elastic strips interposed between said turned in edges of saidsemi-elastic strips wherein said semi-elastic strips and said two wayelastic strips are integrally incorporated to form a substantially onevWay elastic material. p

4. A brassiere having a body encircling portion and bust cups attachedthereto, means separating said bust cups, each of said bust cupscomprising a fabric having a plurality of semi-elastic strips( ofmaterial, the longitudinal edges thereof being turned inwardly, andelastic strips interposed between the turned in edges of saidsemielastic strips, said semi-elastic strips and said elastic stripsbeing of 'varied widths, wherein said elastic strips and aidsemi-elastic strips are integrally incorporated to form a substantiallyone-Way elastic material.

References Cited in the le of lthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS KaufmanOct. 2.

